Till the Sun Turns Black

by

Ray LaMontagne

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Ray Lamontagne's new album TILL THE SUN TURNS BLACK makes a solid follow up to his great 2004 debut TROUBLE. TROUBLE introduced a singer who was favorably compared to such heavy weights as Van Morrison and Otis Redding.

While TROUBLE hit you over the head with it's great title track and then continued with some songs in a similar mode, the new album is a different beast altogether. TILL THE SUN TURNS BLACK moves at a slow simmer, rising only above a whisper on a couple of tunes. Despite it's subtlety, this album packs the same emotional punch as its predecessor. Lamontagne's songs are floated on quiet string and brass arrangements with acoustic guitar and stirring vocals to create a music that falls somewhere between the blues and the music of Nick Drake. It all shadows and smoke.

Fans of TROUBLE will no doubt find much to like here, but will need to approach this new release with patience. A point of reference for existing fans would be TROUBLE's closing track ALL THE WILD HORSES. It is an album that will reward the listener with more depth each time they play it.

The problem is, the moments are few and far between. The best song on this album, by far, is Gone Away From Me and you don't get to it until track 7. Absolutely worth it once you get there though. "Be Here Now" drags on a little too long without changing. "Empty" gave me some hope as it had such a promising sound, but it too didn't hold my interest throughout. I admit, Gone Away From Me doesn't do that much changing throughout it's air time, but the lyrics kept me hooked in... the other songs, not so much. The last song, "Within You" is another good song but it fails to rescue the album as a whole.

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